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Report  on  the  a 
Conf  Pam  #538 


R  E  P  0  R  T 


THIi:       ADDRESS 


Portion  of  tjie  .me.mbees 


GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  OE  GEORGIA. 


PKIXTKU    15Y    OKDEK    OK    TUK    CONVKNTION- 


CllAlU.ESTUN  : 

EVAXt*    Jt    COGSWKLI,,    I'KlNTKnS    TO    TIIK    CONVENTION. 
No.  3  Broad  uiid  103  EhhI  liny  Streets. 

186U. 


Duke  Univerrily  Library 


REPORT, 
By  Mr.  DeSaussure, 

Of  the' CommUlee  on  the  Address  to  the  People  of  the  Southern 

States, 

ON 

THE  ADDRESS  OF  A  PORTION  OF  THE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  GENERAL 
ASSEMBLY  OF  GEORGIA. 

The  Committee  on  the  Address  to  the  Southern  States, 
to  whom  was  referred  the  Address  of  a  portion  of  the 
members  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Georgia  to  the  peo- 
ple of  South  Carolina,  AUibama,  Mississippi  and  Florida, 
in  Convention  assembled,  urg;ing  that  no  final  separate 
State  action  shall  be  taken  upon  the  question  of  secession 
from  the  Union,  until  a  general  Convention  of  the  South- 
ern States  can  be  had,  respectfully  report,  That  the 
Address  was  not  received  until  just  before  the  Ordinance 
of  Secession  was  put  u])on  its  passage,  and  the  \vithdrawal 
of  South  Carolina  from  the  Union  has  now  been  ordained. 
Nevertheless,  the  high  respect  entertained  by  this  Conven- 
tion for  the  members  of  the  Legislature  of  our  sister  State 
of  Georgia,  from  Avhom  this  Address  emanated,  impels  the 
Convention  briefl}*  to  state  the  causes  which  induced  the 
passage  of  the  Ordinance. 

South  Carolina  did  not  desire  to  take  the  lead  in  seces- 
sion, but  her  Legislature  l)eing  in  session  for  the  purpose 
of    appointing   1 'residential    Electors,   first  felt  the   blow 


inflicted  l)y  tlie  election  of  an  enemy  to  Southern  institu- 
tions, elected  by  Abolition  States  upon  Abolition  issues. 

She  felt  that  her  safety  was  imperilled  ;  that  duty  to  her- 
self demanded  prompt  action  as  the  only  means  of  meeting- 
the  impending  danger,  and  she  called  this  Convention  to 
take  the  proper  steps  to  save  the  Commonwealth. 

The  long-continued  violations,  by  the  Federal  authority, 
of  the  constitutional  compact  between  the  States,  produced, 
years  ago,  earnest  and  repeated  remonstrances  and  warn- 
ings, not  only  from  South  Carolina,  but  most  of  the  South- 
ern States.  These  remonstrances  were  unheeded,  until,  at 
length,  this  State  was  clriven  to  take  vigorous  measures  for 
redress.  When  it  was  found  she  would  no  longer  submit, 
a  compromise  was  offered  and  accepted.  How  long  its 
terms  were  observed,  let  the  records  of  the  country  attest. 
The  threatened  storm  being  averted,  the  bad  faith  of  our 
j^orthern  associates  speedily  displayed  itself  in  renewed 
eftbrts  to  plunder  the  South. 

AVhen  a  successful  war  brought  us  accessions  of  territory, 
these  were  grasped  by  our  unscrupulous  allies,  and  monop- 
olized, to  the  entire  exclusion  of  Southern  men  with  their 
property. 

They  have  taken  possession  of  nearly  all  the  Territories, 
and  insolently  proclaimed  that  there  should  be  no  more 
slave  States. 

They  have  waged,  for  a  long  series  of  years,  an  unceas- 
ing warfare  against  the  institution  of  domestic  slavery 
established  in  the  Southern '  States,  with  an  avowed  inten- 
tion to  undermine,  circumscribe  and  utterly  overthrow  it. 
And  tliis,  notwithstanding  that  the  existence  as  well  as 
lawfulness  of  slavery  were  recognized  by  them  in  the 
Articles  of  Union. 


They  liave  tauu:lit  tlieir  people  to  believe  that  slavery  is 
a  sin  and  a  curse,  and  that  they  are  responsible,  if  it  is 
suft'ered  longer  to  exist. 

They  have  generated  in  the  whole  Xorthern  mind  a 
hatred  against  Southern  institutions  and  Southern  men. 
They  proclaimed  that  an  irrepressible  confiict  existed 
between  the  systems  of  Xorthern  and  Southern  labor,  and 
that  one  or  the  other  must  go  down  ;  and  at  length  deti- 
autly  and  exultingly  declared  that  the  battle  was  won. 

The  fruits  of  this  nefarious  warfare  were  at  length  dis- 
jtlayed  in  the  armed  invasion  of  one  of  the  States  by  some 
of  their  infatuated  dupes,  and  by  conflagrations  and  poison- 
ings in  other  States.  The  orderly  and  contented  slave  pop- 
ulation of  the  South  at  length  became  agitated  and  restless. 
A  feverish  feeling  pervaded  the  Southern  mind,  and  for  the 
first  time  a  sense  of  insecurity  began  to  be  felt,  the  neces- 
sary result  of  these  diabolical  machinations. 

And  these  injuries  were  inflicted,  not  by  a  public  enemy, 
but  by  citizens  of  States  bound  to  us  by  a  solemn  compact, 
the  avowed  object  of  whicli  was  to  insure  domestic  tran- 
quility. 

As  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  under  cover  of  their 
Constitutional  privilege,  they  bad  access  to  our  homes,  and 
there  endeavored  to  diffuse  their  deadly  poison.  This  they 
had  been  taught  to  regard  as  a  duty. 

The  peace,  safety,  and  honor  of  South  Carolina  required 
imperatively  that  she  should  no  longer  continue  in  alliance 
with  a  people  thus  faithless  to  their  Constitutional  oliliga- 
tions. 

From  men  whom  no  treaty  could  bind,  she  held  it  idle  to 
ask  for  additional  guaranties,  and  resolved,  with  unparal- 
leled unanimity,  to  separate  herself  from  them. 


Some  of  the  members  ot  the  Georgia  Legislature  have 
urged  that  final  State  action  be  deferred  until  a  meeting  of 
the  Southern  States  can  be  had,  to  confer  together  for  our 
common  safety  ;  but  simultaneously  we  have  received  from 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  from  Georgia,  communications 
urging  immediate  and  tinal  action  as  indispensible  to  the 
safety  of  the  entire  South.  These  communications  are 
from  sources  entitled  to  our  utmost  respect. 

If  a  conference  of  the  Southern  States  is  had,  it  can  have 
but  two  objects  :  one  to  patch  up  a  hollow  truce  with  anti- 
slavery,  which  denounces  our  Institution  as  a  crime,  and 
which  will  hold  all  the  power  of  the  Government  in  all  its 
departments  in  all  time  to  come  ;  the  other  to  concert  mea- 
sures for  final  separation,  and  for  the  formation  of  a  South- 
ern Confederacy. 

South  Carolina  has  ordained  her  separation  from  the 
i^ederal  Union.  This  she  has  done  under  a  high  sense  of 
the  responsibilities  which  attach  to  her,  and  her  relations 
to  her  Southern  sister  States.  Having  weighed  the  con- 
sequences, she  has  resolved  to  go  out  of  the  Union  alone, 
sooner  than  submit  to  the  open  as  well  as  secret  warfare 
carried  on  against  her  peace  and  safety.  The  other  object 
of  a  Southern  Conference — the  formation  of  a  Southern 
Confederacy,  she  anxiously  desires,  and  most  cordially  in- 
vites. 

The  Committee  submit  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  a  coj^y  of  this  report  be  transmitted  by 
the  President  to  the  Honorable  John  Billups,  President  of 
a  meeting  of  a  portion  of  the  members  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  Georgia. 

W.  F.  DeSAUSSURE, 
On  behalf  of  the  Committee.. 
December  22,  1860. 


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